“Change”ing Sam in 32 Days

Now I’ve caught a bit of slack for wimping out on the “change your life in 30 days”.There are those here who shall remain nameless who have told me this isn’t a real life changer or that I’m taking the easy way out.To that I say HA!This is a life changer for me.

Little does everyone know, I come from a long line of cursers.I learned as a child it was okay to toss around 4 letter words just like any other adjective or noun or even adverb.My family was very astute about working the proper colorful language into any conversation.And mind you, it wasn’t just mom and dad who were proficient potty mouths.When all the branches of the family tree gathered for the holidays my impressionable ears were guaranteed to pick up a couple of new words or new uses for existing expletives.

Of course, as a child I wondered where mom and dad learned all these fanciful uses of the mother tongue.That was, until I realized that mom and dad had nothing on the language masters: maw maw and paw paw.Wow…the things they would say…the melodic way such nasty words were made to sound so beautiful and eloquent to the ear.One could sit at their feet for hours as they wove such wonderfully punctuated stories.

I guess at this point you could think I’m glorifying cursing.Nah, just the opposite.Now as an adult I realize just how wrong it is to curse…especially now that I have my own kids.I know I shouldn’t curse.When I’m around my parents now and they continue their cursing ways, it actually makes me cringe.That which I used to think was normal now sounds so wrong.And yes, I’ve told them at times to stop cursing, but to no avail.So now I shall bear the standard, take up the fight, lead the charge…and all that…to rid the world or at least myself of this nasty four letter habit.

Keep an eye on the jar as I’ll post regular updates on my progress or lack thereof…and regular pictures of the swear jar and its contents.Remember, I have to add a penny every time I slip.How many pennies do you think I’ll have at the end of the month?

And while we’re at it…is it “cursing” or “cussing”?I’ve always said “cursing” because that’s what I always heard.All my friends and schoolmates said it that way as well.That was the only way to say it as far as I knew…until I went to college and met some non-city dwellers…the folks who use “cuss” and “nekked” and similar such words.So which is it “curse” or “cuss”?